Good morning. So here we are and it's September 11th. So maybe sitting all day is a good thing to do on September 11th. And we will do a memorial service in memory of the casualties of that day and the ongoing casualties. but actually don't feel like talking about it much. So I'm going to do an old-fashioned setup. And except to say that I feel like in terms of the practices that all of the images and thoughts of this day come to bring forth, that what we need now, each of us in our own way, is the practice of patience. And part of that is the practice of resolve, to do what we can to bring peace and kindness to the world.

[01:13]

And also the practice of fearlessness, which means being afraid, but facing our fears. Not trying to hide from our fears, but just facing them. It's okay to be afraid. So in this koan that I'm going to talk about today, maybe we can find these practices of patience and resolve and just facing our fears. Oh, and then just to remind you all of the other Buddhist practice that we have the opportunity coming up for, which is the traditional Buddhist practice of voting. So if you're not registered to vote, please do so. So I finally, after four years, finished this translation of Dogan's extensive record. And the book is in the process of coming out. And I wanted to talk about one of the Dharma Hall discourses from Dogan.

[02:16]

And this is from 1250, 1249, 1251. And he told a story about an old Chinese Zen master and one of his students. So the story, first there's the story, and then there's Dogen's commentary, and then I'll talk about that. And I like this story, and I can't exactly say why, but I like it a lot. And it's about a teacher named Yao Shan, who's in our lineage, who He's famous for saying that he thought of that which didn't think. But anyway, one time he asked one of his students, who's referred to as novice gal, So Navascau, we don't know so much about him. He's in a few stories. He was not a monk. So usually in the old Zen koans, there's a monk, there's a teacher, and then there's a monk.

[03:20]

And sometimes there's a monk who later became a famous teacher, and they give the other person's name. But this is sort of unusual, because Navascau was not a monk. He was a layperson. I guess maybe he was roughly like people who are lay ordained now. Anyway, Yaoshan recognized that novice gao had some attainment. So we call this story accepting the emptiness of attainment. So Dogen says, I can remember, Yaoshan asked novice gao, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? The novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. So maybe we should go home. I'm not looking for reflection. Anyway, he said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Then Yausha said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures.

[04:23]

How come they have no attainment? Nowaskar said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. That's the story. I'm going to read it again. Yakshan asked Navas Gal, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? He might have asked, you know, is it from reading sutras or hearing lectures or doing meditation or, I don't know, there are many other things that maybe there could be attainment from. But anyway, he said, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? So all of you have heard lectures and maybe at least a little bit, read sutras or read teachings. Is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? The novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Now, I think that one version of the story where there's some dialogue that happened before that, at the end of which the Arshan recognized the novice Tao has really attained something, has really

[05:39]

realize something. And yet, Dogen doesn't even bother to mention that part of the story. And so, the novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Yashon said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? That's a funny question. So all the people who never practiced, never did spiritual practice, if that's not why you can enjoy your life, how come they don't enjoy their lives? How come you can be a person of peace, even though it's not because of your practice, or your meditation, or your hearing lectures, or your reading sutras? Where does this come from? Where does our ability to actually be ourselves come from? All of that is in this question. There are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures.

[06:43]

How come they have no attainment? Navaskar said, I do not say they do not have it. It's kind of disagreeing. Is there something that Maybe there is no one who doesn't have it. Or think of someone who you respect. In any context, a friend, maybe some famous person. Ramaskar says, I do not say they do not have it. Think of someone who maybe you have trouble respecting. Can you say, I do not say they do not have it? Namaskar said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. So this attainment that they're talking about here doesn't seem to be a matter of getting something.

[07:54]

It seems to be about willingness and acceptance. I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not going to accept it." So I've added some comments in retelling the story again. But in Dogen's sermon, he has some added comments, too. So I want to say something about that. He says, today, I, A.A. Dogen, will comment on each statement. Yashan said, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures Dogen added a comment saying, attainment and non-attainment come only from this fist. Both attainment and non-attainment come from right here, right now. From our willingness to take a stand, to sit firmly, to be ourselves. Dogen goes on, the novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures.

[09:04]

And Dogen comments, even before arriving at Jaojo's place, having drank Jaojo's tea. So this is a comment on a story that refers to another story, which is often what happens in the Zen story. So there's five or six stories that are part of this story. a great teacher named Jiaozhou, a great Zen master of all time. Wonderful, wonderful. Many, many stories about him. One time he asked his teacher, what is the way? And the teacher said, just ordinary, everything in life is ordinary. But anyway, this story is about a visiting student coming to see Giorgio, and he was sitting there, and he received the student, and he asked the student, have you been here before? And the student said, yes. And Giorgio said, oh, please have some tea.

[10:09]

And then another student came another time, and Giorgio said, Have you been here before? Oh, please have some tea. And then he attended that both times. You see, the students answered differently, but you had to have some tea. You had to ask them to have some tea. Why is that? And the doctor says, please have some tea. Whether you've been here before or not, please just have some tea. And if you have a question about it, please have some tea. Please refresh yourself. So we'll have tea later this afternoon. That's that story. And Dogen's comment about, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures, this statement by Namaskar,

[11:15]

even before arriving at Jar Jar's place, having drank Jar Jar's tea. So, please don't worry about understanding this. It's not the point of this. The point is just to have some tea. How do we find, in the middle of this life, in the middle of the craziness and cruelty of the world that we are actually living in, in the middle of the wonderful things in the world we're living in. How do we find this space where, even before we ever heard of geography, we can actually do it? Or in the hearing mind, if we did mind. So the novice girl said, I did not attain either from reading supers or from hearing lectures. It's not that there isn't something that we have to do in our practice, actually.

[12:22]

It's not that there's no attainment. It's not that there is no work to do in this life. It's not that we don't have some responsibility for the world and for all beings. And yet, even before you thought about doing spiritual practice, even before you thought about coming to hear a Zen lecture. What is it that was refreshing? What is it that allowed you to find some space of refreshment and relaxation that you could share with your friends, with someone else that you cared about? Can you really appreciate this teaching?

[13:24]

So Yashen said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? So all the people who have never encountered the teaching of awakening, how come they have no attainment? Hi, come on in, there are chairs here, we're in the middle of a talk about a complicated koan. Maybe we'll end up going back to the beginning, but I can't promise. So, again, the ashram said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? Dogen's comment on this is that all living beings have no Buddha nature.

[14:38]

All living beings have no Buddha nature. So we're getting to what this story is really about. And I'll read the next one first and then talk about it together. So, when Yaoshan said, there are very many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures, how come they have no attainment? Nabas Gyal said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. Dogen's comment to that is, all living beings have Buddha nature. So let me go back and just read the whole story again, This also has to do with yajna. So this is a little complicated, so I may be able to go over it a few times. And we can talk about it if you have questions. But the basic story again. Great Master Yaoshan asked Navaskar, a lay student of his, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures?

[15:43]

Navaskar said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Yaoshan said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras. and do not hear lectures, how come they have no attainment? It's an important question. And Namaskar said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they're not willing to accept it. It's a wonderful story. Anyway, Dogen's comment on this last part again is, Yakshon said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? Dogen's added comment is, All living beings have no Buddha nature. Navas Gao said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. And Dogen commented, all living beings have Buddha nature. This also has to do with the story about Zazo.

[16:44]

There's a further comment by Dogen, and then I'll come back to this. So after commenting on the lines, Dogen further said, suppose someone suddenly asked me, Dogen, why I spoke like this, I would say to him, originally we need all of emptiness to break through existence. Already having no existence, what emptiness is needed? So I'll come back to that. I want to go back to this Buddha nature business. There are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? Dogen said, all living beings have no buddha nature. That could also be read as, all living beings do not have buddha nature. So, this relates to a story of Zhao Zhou that you probably heard. One time a monk came to Zhao Zhou, or Zhou Shu as he's known in Japanese, and said, does a dog have buddha nature?

[17:47]

And he said, no, or in Japanese, no. So this is maybe the most famous one. But there's another part of the story. Another time, a monk came to Dogon and said, does a dog have food in it? And Jaojo said, yes, it has food in it. So when Yaoshan said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures, how come they have no attainment? Dogen just said, all living beings have no buddha nature. So maybe it's easy for us to see that today. If we think of all of the cruelty of the world, if we think of suicide bombers, if we think of wars and aggression and all of the things that September 11th calls up, maybe it's pretty easy to see no buddha nature. There's some people who, We can't feel pretty clear.

[18:52]

I mean, it's possible. People who would do terrible things. So Zaboskow somehow, even without the sutras and the lectures, understood something. Or I don't know if he understood it, but he realized how to be itself. How come everybody doesn't do that automatically? What is the point of coming to hear a Zen lecture or meditating or trying to attend to the quality of our life, trying to find our kindness? Dogen says, all living beings have no Buddha nature. Not just thoughts. And actually, Buddha nature is not something that you can get a hold of. So this issue of Buddha nature is fundamental to our practice.

[19:55]

In some ways, just sitting silently, upright, quietly, paying attention to our experience, thoughts, feelings, sounds, sensations. The point of this is that as we quiet down, we can see this possibility. of being awake and aware of mankind, which we traditionally refer to sometimes as Buddha nature. And yet, there's no thing called Buddha nature that you can get. So, you know, this practice is so simple, and yet, at the heart of what it means to be alive, to be a human being, there's this problem. Only the attempt of Any of us are capable in the wrong circumstances of being torturers.

[20:56]

I'm sorry to say that. There have been experiments at Stanford that show that even ordinary good people, like all of us, in the wrong situation might be terrible. But Namaskar, you know, he had attained something. He said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they're not willing to accept it. And Dogen commented, commented all that had been said. If we're willing to accept it, we can actually express the wisdom and virtue and kindness of awakening. This is what the Buddha saw when he awakened 2,500 years ago. Just that. All living beings have buddhahood.

[22:00]

Yeah, so... Navaskyara said they're not willing to accept it, and yet... So, yes, that's all living beings. Could he possibly, including Islamic fundamentalists, or Texas Christian fundamentalists? Anyway, all living beings have religion. So this is the pivot place in our practice. We don't need to go to some Zen talk Thank you for coming anyway. We're not doing this to get something. This is a big problem in Zen practice. People think that they're supposed to get enlightened.

[23:08]

People think that there's some, you know, some magic with that elixir. I don't know what, you know. You all got these weird ideas. I don't know what to do about it. But anyway. Here we are in a land of consumerist men. And you think you're supposed to get something from it. You think you're supposed to get something from your life. It's a big problem. Because as Dogen said about Namaskar is saying, I did not detain you either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Even before you arrived at Jaojo's place, you had drank Jaojo's tea. So Dogen's final comments. Suppose someone suddenly asked me why I spoke like this. I would say to him or her, Originally, we need all of emptiness to break through existence.

[24:12]

Already having no existence, what emptiness is needed? So this kind of sums up the reason. Originally, we need all of emptiness, or we could read that as all of the different emptinesses, to break through existence. Well, yeah. I mean, we all started out by getting born. Maybe there was stuff before that too, but we want to talk about that today. Here we are, existing as dog-natures and Buddha-natures and holiness-natures and people-natures and whatever, you know, whatever identity you're willing to cop to. Originally, we need all of emptiness to break through this existence. So, we start out babies. They need emptiness. First they need to develop an ego, I guess. They need to learn how to talk and walk and figure out how to get stuff from their mommy and go and learn to read and write and do arithmetic and so forth.

[25:29]

Eventually, you know, a lot of the time they get to be adults But then usually there's something we might call an ego. And our culture teaches us to get ahead and develop our resumes and get a nice car or whatever to acquire things. So originally we need all of emptiness to break through existence. We have the solution of a real world. We have this existence. It's here. And of course our existence includes suffering old age and death. Our existence includes sadness and loss and frustration and not getting the things we want and in some ways sometimes having terrible things happen.

[26:38]

as we are mindful of on this day. Our ideas of existence can suddenly shatter. Our ideas of safety and security, personal or national security, can suddenly shatter. Suddenly we can see that our ideas of who we are and what the world is aren't actually just bubbles or teapots floating through the air. Now, Zen practice emphasizes taking care of this phenomenal world, taking care of resistance. And yet, we do need all of our beings to break through resistance, to break through the ways in which we're caught by our ideas of who we are and what the world is.

[27:42]

So there's this teaching of emptiness, that any particular thing, any particular idea, any particular notion of security and safety, and something we can ultimately rely on, is empty. This is very sad, but it's, you know, So we need to study emptiness. And emptiness actually just means connectedness. It means that we're all connected. That what happens in the medias affects us. That what happens to our friends affects us. That what we do affects our friends, family, and people around us. So originally, we need all of emptiness to break through existence. However, already having no existence, what emptiness is? So, when our lives are shattered, or maybe that's too melodramatic, when we see that the world is not what we think it is, when we see that our life is not what we thought it was, when we see the transiency and ephemerality of existence, when we see that we're not who we thought we were, our ideas of ourselves are just our ideas of ourselves, and actually,

[29:12]

Something can happen and our life changes dramatically. A war starts, or we change our name, or we get a new job, or we move to a new place. And suddenly our existence is not our existence anymore. Well, Dugan said that when Namaskar said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures, This is like even before arriving at Xiaozhou's place, having drank Xiaozhou's tea. Already having no existence, what emptiness is needed? So I said at the beginning that I was not particularly trying to talk about September 11th, but I wanted to talk about this Zen story. But you know, when we say what emptiness is needed, This is exactly what I was saying about resolve, and patience, and facing fear. We don't need to hold on to emptiness either.

[30:19]

In fact, we can take on being where we are, in this stronger position, and not holding on to it, not making it into a thing, because we know there's no existence. There's no Buddha nature to hold on to, and yet everything has Buddha nature. This doesn't make sense according to our logical left brain. Anyone? For my right brain, I can't remember which one is which. But anyone? What? Left brain. Good. So already having no existence, what emptiness is it? We don't need to hold on to emptiness either. In fact, it's important that we don't. If we're not holding on to our idea of who the good guys and who the bad guys are, if we're not making somebody else the evil other, if we're not trying to manipulate our experience to get some attainment that is here from the very beginning, whether or not we go to heaven is unlikely.

[31:39]

We can just be as we are. and take care of each other. So this is maybe a difficult story. It's got all these references in it. I don't know. I should read it again. Maybe I will. I'll read the whole thing. And then I'm interested in your comments. So this is from Dogen's extensive record, this is the book that he spent four years translating. Yaoshan asked Navaskar, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? And the novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Then Master Yaoshan then said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? And Navaskar said, I do not say they do not have it.

[32:43]

but only that they are not willing to accept it. So this willingness to accept, you know, I'm sorry I'm interrupting the reading of it, it's just to add more comments on top of comments on top of comments, but this is what Dogen's talking about when he says, originally we need all of emptiness to break through existence, already having no existence. What emptiness is? Can we be willing to accept who we are, and to accept the emptiness of who we are? Can we be willing to accept the world as it is, and face our fears about the difficulties of the world, and take responsibility, and even, you know, decide who we're going to vote for, and do all that stuff? Can we be willing to accept both emptiness of existence, Can the existence, just as it is, without needing any emptiness, can we be willing to accept this life, this situation?

[33:48]

So, Dogen commented on each statement. He says today, I and he will comment on each statement. Yaoshan said, is your attainment from reading sutras or from hearing lectures? And Dogen said, attainment and non-attainment come only from the spirit. The novice said, I did not attain either from reading sutras or from hearing lectures. Dogen commented, even before arriving at Jardo's place, having drank Jardo's tea. So as I said before, whenever anybody showed up at Jardo's place, he would ask them, have you been here before? And whether they said yes or no, he would say, go have some tea. And when his attendant asked him about that, Jardo said, go have some tea. So Yashan said, there are a great many people who do not read sutras and do not hear lectures. How come they have no attainment? And Doge commented, all living beings have no buddhimentia. So, you know, there's that side of it.

[34:55]

The novice said, I do not say they do not have it, but only that they are not willing to accept it. And Doge commented, all living beings have buddhimentia. There's also that side to that. And even if Buddha nature is not something we can have or not have, it's just that we're being completely Buddha nature. Buddha nature is the possibility of being present and clear in the world. And then Dogen further says, suppose someone suddenly asked me, hey, hey, why I spoke like this? I would say to him or her, originally, we need all of emptiness to break through existence. Already having no existence, what emptiness is needed? So as I said at the beginning, I really like this story, and I can't say why I like it so much. Maybe if I could say, I wouldn't.

[35:58]

But anyway, something about it. And this struggle with the paradox of our life feels like good medicine for the sadness and fear that we may feel today. So, any comments? Well, the point of commenting on, the point of koans is just to play with them. So here's a story, actually a story about stories with references to other stories.

[37:06]

So commenting on them means just to play with them. So you might have some comment that Maybe it doesn't necessarily relate exactly to the story. Or maybe it does, but not directly. So whatever this story brings forth is part of the plot of this story. So these koans are kind of like performance pieces. They're little theatrical events. And in this case, this is the theatrical event that happened in the 800s in China when Yashai and the student Navaskar got together, and then there's the later event when Dogen was commenting on it to his students at AG in 1251, and now there's this other event of talking about it together in Bolinus on September 11th. And so anything that comes up is part of our response.

[38:14]

Your response is a very worthy comment, to respond to this problem of Buddha nature and existence. Gary, it feels like you have a response. Tickle, tickle. It's been a long time looking at questions without answers. That's the definition of a neurosis. Well, maybe it's not that long. It seems to be things that are questions that have been opened. In my case, it's a bunch of murals. Well, you could say it's neuroses, but we live in this crazy world. What's the answer to how we bring peace to the Middle East? What's the answer to how we recognize how Islamic people and American people can find peace and comfort with each other?

[39:25]

What's the answer to the fear that our government wants us to have? There's no answer to that, but yet, this is our life. And of course, taking it outside of that context, just in each of us, in our own life, have, you know, oh well, I won't speak for anyone else, but you know, some of you maybe, and I certainly, you know, have problems and questions and things that don't work out. And maybe some of you feel that way too. I don't know that they have no answer, but definitely that there's not an answer. I think more that there are many answers. How do we play in this world? My response to the question of the koan would be that I get it but I don't get it.

[40:31]

Did you get it or not get it based on hearing the lecture or based on reading some... Based on the koan. So that's the koan that you had before you came here today? Yes. This day is dedicated to a koan. I'm trying not to talk about September 11th, but I know people who think that, who can make convincing arguments that, anyway, we don't know what happened on September 11th. Were there, who actually was behind the event? What actually happened? There's so many unanswered questions in the official version of the story, the official version is not really credible.

[41:35]

And yet, we have the official, we have these media presenting the official story anyway. And we have various politicians using it for various purposes. And it's a tragedy. It's not just an abstraction. Many people killed on that day. And there have been even many, many, many more killed as a result of these responses. So it's like a koan. There's no answer to it. We have responses. And as Judith said, we have many responses, there's not one right response. I'm totally, I don't know what happened. I haven't read all these very intricate theories about it.

[42:39]

Maybe they're all right. So this is the world we live in. It's fine to say some unsolvable problem is neurotic, but actually this is the world we live in. And I wonder sometimes if it's possible, or if it wouldn't be irresponsible to be sane in such a crazy world. So I don't know, clarity and sanity are not necessarily I'm sorry to say that, Gary, but your job is to promote sanity, right? That's a good question. Actually, when I was in high school, I remember as an undergraduate, there was a group where we talked about what do you think we want to do with the world?

[43:41]

Adjustment to the society. And yet, how can we be willing to accept it? How can we not run from the room, run from the burning building screaming in terror? I have problems with cars. Me too. I mean, well see, that's it. I just, like a fence goes up when I hear those stories.

[44:45]

Like, it's like mindfuck, you know? And what does that have to do with ordinary life? They're all the same. You know, ordinary mind is where it's at. You know, it seems like this is some extraordinary mind that they're grooving around with. I don't like that. It feels like a work age thing. Yeah. We're having too much time on our hands. I don't know. It's like, just like, OK. Well, how I'm doing, I'm telling you a bunch of logical things. It's just something that I first felt in the traditional or logical way of thinking, because you can't just start thinking about a thing without finding out that. Yeah, please don't try to figure this out. Without accepting it and letting it just kind of break. Yes, I agree with you.

[45:49]

So, I don't know, maybe we have too much time on our hands, coming and sitting and spending the day or part of the day listening to these old stories. But, you know, these stories are kind of They're like acupuncture needles. They're kind of like probes. They're kind of like little reminders of something. This problem, you know, that life gives us. So don't worry about figuring, understanding and figuring out. This is about looking at what's... What is our willingness to accept? What is are letting go and are taking up, what is it that, when is it that we can allow ourselves to just have a cup of tea? I just want to say, even more than the colon, I appreciate the colon.

[46:58]

The colon is to me a little bit like this. There's something in it.

[47:07]

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